Royal Windsor Castle and transfer to Heathrow

[gwilli]

Thinking of this tour to finish up our cruise and see a bit more of England...... Would like to know about how long you have at Windsor Castle to tour on your own. Thinking of getting tickets in advance to avoid the long lines there. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Cheers!

[4774Papa]

Thinking of this tour to finish up our cruise and see a bit more of England...... Would like to know about how long you have at Windsor Castle to tour on your own. Thinking of getting tickets in advance to avoid the long lines there. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Cheers!

We did Windsor Castle on our own post cruise in May 2013. It was great. I had been there in 81, but the Queen was in residence then and we couldn't go inside.

We arrived by car in the morning so we could breakfast before touring. We started the tour about 9:30am. We finished around 1pm, had lunch in the city, walked around a bit and left around 2:30pm.

 

The tour is excellent. We had a wonderful guide. The lines are not so long, if you arrive early. If you go early, the lines are not bad.

[uktog]

The tour is self directed now with an audio guide so you can pace yourself and decide whether to deviated to places like the portrait galleries or the Dolls House

Absolutely get the tickets in advance, the lines can be around 20-30 mins during mid morning which I suspect is when you will arrive.

As for how long to allow, well if you walk briskly you can get a sense of the main parts of the castle in an hour but I would want longer if I could

[TourDeCruise]

We have booked this Celebrity tour/transfer for our September 6th Immersive Wine cruise that starts and ends in Harwich. Another rollcall did it last year and enjoyed it so much and booked it again for this year. I can post when we return mid-September about the tour/transfer.

 

Kathy

[Phxazzcruisers]

On our return cruise that ended in Southampton we did a tour of Stonehenge and then were dropped off at our Hotel near Heathrow. Never saw Stonehenge before. It was a great experience

[wolfpackmom]

We have also booked this excursion for our wine immersive cruise that leaves on Sept. 30. It seemed like a good option as we have a late afternoon flight out of Heathrow, thus affording us the opportunity to see another part of England without hauling luggage around as it will be safely stowed on the bus.

 

I would love to hear from others who have actually taken this X excursion. I am not sure I want to tour the castle, but I would like to know what the shopping was like, and how much time you were in Windsor before you had to bet back on the bus for the transfer to the airport.

[gwilli]

Thanks for your answers. Kathy, enjoy your wonderful cruise and please let me know about this tour. Do you know how much time to expect there? Are you getting tour tickets in advance? :)

[TourDeCruise]

Thanks for your answers. Kathy, enjoy your wonderful cruise and please let me know about this tour. Do you know how much time to expect there? Are you getting tour tickets in advance? :)

 

gwilli: Sorry, I just realized that you posted Royal Windsor Castle. We are doing the Buckingham Palace tour with transfer to Heathrow! I apologize for not reading your post correctly. With the Buckingham Palace tour/transfer to Heathrow, Celebrity will get the tickets for us. I don't know about the Windsor Castle tour. Do you still want me to post about the Buckingham Palace tour & transfer?

 

I agree seeing Stonehenge is quite an experience.

 

Kathy

[smtcan]

We have also booked this excursion for our wine immersive cruise that leaves on Sept. 30. It seemed like a good option as we have a late afternoon flight out of Heathrow, thus affording us the opportunity to see another part of England without hauling luggage around as it will be safely stowed on the bus.

 

I would love to hear from others who have actually taken this X excursion. I am not sure I want to tour the castle, but I would like to know what the shopping was like, and how much time you were in Windsor before you had to bet back on the bus for the transfer to the airport.

 

Windsor is really all about the castle. Our son lives near there, and it is not the place we would go for shopping, although we are typically not looking for souvenirs in UK. It is very handy for Heathrow, as evidenced by the constant noise of planes overhead, although that might depend on the wind direction.

 

See you on board on 30th!

[cheriooo]

We didnt use the ships transfer we used a private driver (Eddie Manning) who provided great service to and from Southampton. Since we were staying a few extra days in London post cruise we selected an option to tour Windsor Castle with Eddie Manning. This was a well worth stop. We arrived at Windsor Castle a little bit before it opened and got scared by the incredible long line of folks waiting to get in. We only had 3 hrs to spend and thought we would get to the head of the line just when our driver was ready to pick us up. But there were actually 2 lines. One for tour groups (really long) and one for individuals (10 min wait). So by all means buy in advance. The Castle tour is self guided with a head set and well worth seeing. The Queen was not in residence when we were there. We had 3 hrs to walk around and that was enough time to walk and see the grounds, tour the visitor sections of buildings and have a quick bite to eat. I have no idea how many people were actually visiting the property but it wasnt very crowed inside the grounds. We were there on a Saturday. Hope this helps

[vickykay]

Have toured both Windsor and Buckingham Palace on our own trips to England. Windsor is wonderful to visit but Buckingham is amazing and only opened for a limited time each year. If available thru Celebrity as a post tour while you are there, try and go to Buckingham!

 

Enjoy!

[bigbenboys]

After our cruise dock in Southampton we had a private tour to Stonehenge and Windsor Castle. He then took us to our hotel in London. Richard

[MTJtraveller]

I would definitely pre-purchase tickets. It's a bit like Disneyland with a long line outside with a winding line inside the building as well. There is nothing like walking right up and in with tickets in hand. :o

[alfred]

We just returned on Saturday. We did a transfer from ship to Heathrow via Windsor. Our tour did not include tickets to get into the castle. The line on August 16 was 50 minutes long to get tickets. Some people did it and had only 45 minutes to go through.

 

We had 2 hours so we shopped for some souvenirs and ate at the Pasty Company--- it was really good. Very scenic in the area!

[John Bull]

Windsor is really all about the castle. Our son lives near there, and it is not the place we would go for shopping, although we are typically not looking for souvenirs in UK.

 

All a matter of opinion, I know. ;)

But I think you do junior's town a dis-service.

 

Agreed it's not the place to go for a weekly grocery shop, or to splash out on new clothes or household goods.

Neither is Bath or Stratford-upon-Avon or Winchester or any tourist mecca.

 

But Windsor itself is well-appreciated by visitors, a very pleasant & historic town to wander the shops, the river, across to Eton, enjoy a pint or a coffee or a cream tea, etc.

I used to drive coach tours & have driven folk (my locals as well as overseas visitors) to Windsor many many times. Even the Brits enjoy a day in Windsor - and most don't even bother going into the castle!!

60 parking spaces in the coach park & it was always fingers-crossed I'd find an empty space. So Windsor must have some sort of appeal :)

 

JB :)

[jeff4la]

My family and I did the Celebrity excursion Royal windsor castle and transfer to Heathrow in May after getting off the British Isles cruise. We did a few Celebrity excursions on the cruise and were satisfied with all, except this one. Maybe I had unrealistic expectations....in fact, I clearly did so that is MY fault. A quick review.....the night before we were given specific luggage tags to put on our luggage for the "excursion". Our bags were taken from the hallway as usual. the next morning we were to reportto the conference room at a certain time ( I forget what time exactly). The room could only hold about half of the people so unfortunately we could not hear what was being said....tried to get in the room but there was just NO way! ok...no big deal...we will just follow the pack. First mistake on my part....I assumed (there is that word!) that our luggage would be by the coach, or even on the coach (pretty crazy of me?!). Nope....had to go find it and haul it out to the buses.....easier said than done. Porters were few and far between

 

Once we got to the coaches we had to line up with our luggage. seemed to take forever to get on.....maybe because we were stnding in the rain and getting soaked....oh well....rain happens....Its England after all!

 

Once on the coach, which I swear, had the smallest, most uncomfortable seats I have ever seen or felt. Really! Any way, it is a LONG way to Windsor castle. The coach had no bathroom which we didnt need, but others did. One sent her husband to the front to almost beg to stop, but the driver said it would be another half hour before he could stop. I get it....Go before you go....but this poor lady was actually crying.....

 

At Windsor we parked in the Coach park which is actually quite a walk to the castle. We were told we had 1.5 hours before the coach would leave. by the time you walk to the castle nd back there is only about an hour.....in my view not enough time to do justice to such a large castle....we did not go in....just enough time to take a few pics, look at a few shops, and head back.

 

I would not do it again. Not enough time really just a bus ride to heathrow with an extended pit stop. Next time i will take the $480 (4 of us at $120 each) and just do a private transfer with a stop along the way....just us and a driver.

 

Thought it would be easy. It wasnt. I should have done better research...my fault. Celebrity should have been more organized and hired better buses.

 

Sent from my SCH-I905 using Forums mobile app

[Ontario Cruiser]

We plan to go to Windsor for a few hours on Monday Land at 10:15am and leave for Rome at 6:15pm How much would the taxi cost? Thanks Ontario Cruiser

[jtamchay]

My family and I did the Celebrity excursion Royal windsor castle and transfer to Heathrow in May after getting off the British Isles cruise. We did a few Celebrity excursions on the cruise and were satisfied with all, except this one. Maybe I had unrealistic expectations....in fact, I clearly did so that is MY fault. A quick review.....the night before we were given specific luggage tags to put on our luggage for the "excursion". Our bags were taken from the hallway as usual. the next morning we were to reportto the conference room at a certain time ( I forget what time exactly). The room could only hold about half of the people so unfortunately we could not hear what was being said....tried to get in the room but there was just NO way! ok...no big deal...we will just follow the pack. First mistake on my part....I assumed (there is that word!) that our luggage would be by the coach, or even on the coach (pretty crazy of me?!). Nope....had to go find it and haul it out to the buses.....easier said than done. Porters were few and far between

 

Once we got to the coaches we had to line up with our luggage. seemed to take forever to get on.....maybe because we were stnding in the rain and getting soaked....oh well....rain happens....Its England after all!

 

Once on the coach, which I swear, had the smallest, most uncomfortable seats I have ever seen or felt. Really! Any way, it is a LONG way to Windsor castle. The coach had no bathroom which we didnt need, but others did. One sent her husband to the front to almost beg to stop, but the driver said it would be another half hour before he could stop. I get it....Go before you go....but this poor lady was actually crying.....

 

At Windsor we parked in the Coach park which is actually quite a walk to the castle. We were told we had 1.5 hours before the coach would leave. by the time you walk to the castle nd back there is only about an hour.....in my view not enough time to do justice to such a large castle....we did not go in....just enough time to take a few pics, look at a few shops, and head back.

 

I would not do it again. Not enough time really just a bus ride to heathrow with an extended pit stop. Next time i will take the $480 (4 of us at $120 each) and just do a private transfer with a stop along the way....just us and a driver.

 

Thought it would be easy. It wasnt. I should have done better research...my fault. Celebrity should have been more organized and hired better buses.

 

Sent from my SCH-I905 using Forums mobile app

 

I totally agree with your assessment of the time allowed for this tour...not enough as we did this on August 28, 2013 after we disembarked from The Caribbean Princess enroute to our hotel for 4 days.

[gwilli]

Thanks. That's what I wanted to know...how much time we would actually have in the castle with the transfer. I'll begin looking for a different way to do this.

Cheers!

[MetravelUtoo?]

Thanks. That's what I wanted to know...how much time we would actually have in the castle with the transfer. I'll begin looking for a different way to do this.

Cheers!

 

Did that transfer/excursion w/Celebrity Infinity & I agree whole-heartedly with the other two reviews. Ours was even worse because a women on our bus had lost her coat between the ship and the bus. We waited at least 30 mins on her! PLUS, the bus driver was EXTREMELY DISGRUNTLED due to the amount of luggage he was trying to fit on the bus versus what his company had been told. We were on the bus almost an hour before finally leaving. Even if you don't experience that lost time, there is always the possibility of traffic jams...we had a while just sitting on the highway as well. I think we only had 1 hour total to look around. We mainly did the transfer/tour to kill time before late afternoon flight. Looking back I think I would have enjoyed just sitting in the airport reading a good book...at least there are restrooms there! :D